Police and Crime Commissioner for Wiltshire and Swindon Angus Macpherson yesterday (Thursday 29 June) launched his new Community Action Fund.

The fund has been created to benefit local communities and £40,000 has been earmarked for this year, to share between projects that meet the fund criteria.

The Commissioner is looking to boost initiatives which will help him to meet the key priorities in his Police and Crime Plan, through projects which demonstrate:

An increased participation from communities who engage with, and promote community safety, helping to keep their community safe, or projects which demonstrate a reduction in rural crime in communities.

The Commissioner said: “I am really pleased to be launching this new fund. I am a firm believer that policing is the responsibility of the whole community, so when I was re-elected I wanted to create a fund that would empower communities and give them more opportunity to help keep themselves safe. As a rural county, Wiltshire is affected by a number of crimes that you don’t see in towns and cities, but have a big impact on people’s lives and livelihoods. It was important to me that this fund embraced the rurality of Wiltshire, and encouraged our rural communities to become involved, as we are all working to the same goal to tackle and reduce crime. This fund is about supporting local ideas which will make a lasting difference and help to keep communities safe.”

Applications are sought from the voluntary and community sector.

The £40,000 is being drawn from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Community Safety fund.

For more information please visit the Police and Crime Commissioners website. If you have any questions about the fund, please call the Office of the PCC on 01380 734022.